Street plate for tractors



E. H. RIDER STREET PLATE FOR TRACTORS Filed Dec.

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A! BY Q Q ATTORNEY Patented June 6, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1Claim.

This invention relates generally to an improvement in street plates fortractors of the endless track or caterpillar type; the invention beingdirected particularly to, and it is my principal object to provide aquick attachable street plate which is arranged to facilitate andexpedite the mounting or removal thereof from the track plates of atractor.

The street plates now in use must be bolted to the track plates and itrequires many hours of Work to put on or remove a set of street plates.This is a tiresome and expensive operation and quite annoying especiallywhen the tractor is to be moved over paved streets or roads only a shortdistance. With my improved street plate,

a set of the same may be mounted or removed in a few minutes resultingin material saving of time and expense. I

A further object of my invention is to provide a quick attachingmechanism which may be incorporated as a part of the street plate whenmanufactured, or may be manufactured separately as an attachment forstreet plates now in use.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposefor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claim.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a top plan of a street plate incorporating my device inplace on a track plate.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawing, I have illustrated a street plate of substantially the sameconfiguration as now in use, such plateincluding a hollow body having afiat street engaging portion I spaced from the track plate 2 by asupporting skirt 3. Flanges 4 project laterally from the inner edges ofthe skirt 3 at the sides of the plate and engage the track plate 2 inface to face relation.

One laterally extending edge of portion l is extended inwardly towardthe track plate, as at 5, to form a lip which engages over the cleat 6on the track plate and prevents movement of the street platelongitudinally of the track plate.

The flanges 4 heretofore have been provided with bolt holes whereby thestreet plate could be bolted to the track plate. However, I omit suchholes and secure the street plate in place in the following manner: I

The flange 4, at one side of the street plate is extended laterally toform the relatively narrow and flat shank I of a hook 8 which removablyengages one side edge of the track plate 2. Although shown as anintegral portion of the street plate in the present instance, the shankmay be separate therefrom and secured in place 10 in a suitable mannerwhen my device is constructed as an attachment for the present type ofstreet plate.

At the opposite side of the street plate from hook 8, the skirt 3 isformed with a horizontal 15 circular hole 9. A boss l0, having avertical face, is formed on the inside of said skirt 3 and surroundshole 9. A rod ll slidably and freely projects through the hole and is ofsufilcient length to extend from the corresponding 20 side of the streetplate to a termination within space in the hollow body between portion land track plate 2.

The inner end of rod II is threaded and provided with an adjustable nutl2; a heavy duty compression spring l3 surrounding the rod between suchhead and boss Ill. The outer end of the rod is secured to another hookI4 positioned to yieldably engage the adjacent side edge of track plate2.

In order to attach a street plate, incorporating my invention, to atrack plate, hook 8 is engaged over one side edge of the track plate andwith lip 5 engaged over cleat 6. The hook I4 is then drawn laterallyaway from the street plate against the spring l3 (with a suitable toolengaged in the hook) and the hook is snapped over the adjacent side edgeof the track plate 2. Spring [3 remains under compression when thestreet plate is in place.

When the tractor is turning in one direction, a lateral drag is placedon the street plate tending to further compress the spring and causehook 8 to become disengaged from the track plate. To avoid this latterpossibility, the length of the side of hook 8 which overhangs the trackplate is made greater than the total possible contractive movement ofthe spring from the normal setting thereof when its hook is engaged withthe track plate.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters 'Patent is:

In a street plate including a body adapted to rest on a track plate, ahook extending from one side of the body for removable engagement withone side edge of the track plate, another hook adapted to removablyengage the other

